


Kiss Me, Kate

by cynassa



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: F/F, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-24
Updated: 2016-12-24
Packaged: 2018-09-11 17:15:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,839
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8999707
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cynassa/pseuds/cynassa
Summary: Elizabeth and Teyla incite a revolution, pick some fruits and find love. Not exactly in that order.





	

**Author's Note:**

> For falcon_horus, who wanted awesome women being awesome, romance and humor.
> 
> Thank you to the wonderful mod of SGA Secret Santa for hosting this exchange and for helping me out so patiently. 
> 
> Have a great holiday and an awesome year ahead

**Two Weeks, Six Days Ago**

“It’s an entirely reasonable reaction, given our recent danger. The Wraith were almost here, and we all could have died. And the very real likelihood that we won’t make it back to earth. Dr. Beckett tells me that we are in danger of prophylactics running low, we were trying to find a practical solution for that. There’s no reason to…” Kate finally faltered from briskly doing up her clothing. She touched the place on her throat where her uniform zipper would end and her mouth opened and shut soundlessly. Elizabeth could see a dark bruise forming. Her own handiwork, or mouthwork as it may be.

She felt furious at her own petty satisfaction and brought up all her training to nod and smile politely and say, “We can be adults about a small mistake, Ka… Dr. Heightmeyer.”

Kate looked up at that, surprised. Elizabeth was too tired and too fucking hungover to deal with it, so she sidestepped her and moved out, wishing she was like John, who had a knack of hiding in the hallways of Atlantis when he didn’t want anyone to find him, mostly trying to avoid paperwork.

She was about twenty years too old to be doing a walk of shame. She just needed to get to her room and the fake bathtub and five minutes of privacy, now.

**\--**

**Present Day**

Teyla couldn’t finish the story, she was laughing so hard. Elizabeth kept laughing helplessly as well, even though they hadn’t gotten to the funny part of the story.

“So she sold the cattle to him?” Elizabeth prompted.

“Yes, for thrice its worth, but then,” Teyla hiccupped a little with laughter and said. “next day, my aunt, my father’s youngest sister, who married into their people, she comes to visit, and she said that he checked the marks, and he was sold back _his own cattle_!”

“The ones he stole?” Elizabeth gasped, and then started laughing again as Teyla nodded. “They never found the woman. They say that she must be Caca,” without prompting she explained, “she is kind to the old and the young who have no one to care for them, but she is mischievous and often teaches lessons to wicked people.”

Once their laughter had died down, Elizabeth stared up into the unfamiliar sky full of stars. She had been away from her own galaxy for over a year now, with hardly a hope of return, but she had lost the wonder of being an explorer in the tedious but necessary everyday life of Atlantis. A new planet, and a mission was making her almost giddy with excitement. She didn’t even feel sleepy despite the long hard walk they had had and would have again tomorrow.

“This is almost like a sleepover,” Elizabeth commented.

“Sleepover?”

“Like a party, but all night and everyone sits around talking about boys and painting their nails.”

“Really?” Teyla sounded vaguely amused

“I think so. I’ve never actually been invited to any.” Years and years later, in the most amazing place she could never have imagined, it still stung a little.

“I was a real leader. Debate team captain. Student council head two years running, setting a record. Led rallies.” She trailed off, her impressive list of achievements sounded empty out here in the woods of a planet that had never heard the words, ‘honor roll,’ so she just finished, “But I didn’t get invited to sleepovers.” Parties, sure. She was always the right person to know to get things done, she had made sure of that. But sleepovers were for friends, for _BFFs_.

She was startled by Teyla’s hand on her cheek, turning her face to look at Teyla. “I would have invited you to my sleepover,” she promised solemnly. Not that she knew what that was, but she was sure she would have invited Elizabeth.

“This is a much better sleepover than talking about boys and painting nails,” Elizabeth said

“I should hope so,” Teyla said, mock-haughty.

“I slept with Kate after the party,” Elizabeth heard herself say, and then flushed. Idiot, _idiot_. But she couldn’t talk to anyone except Teyla, because everyone else she knew was depending on her to be the strong, sure leader, and Teyla knew exactly what that felt like.

Teyla carefully said, “I hope it was fun.”

Elizabeth said, with dignity, “We decided it was a, a mistake between friends and good colleagues and we will be adults and not speak about it. It was the right decision.”

Even more carefully, Teyla said, “I am glad you reached an amiable agreement.”

“She was going to kick me out, so I kicked myself out first,” Elizabeth admitted in a rush of words.

Teyla had a way of making her appalled silences very distinct, “And you are satisfied?”

Elizabeth shrugged, which Teyla must have felt.

Teyla sighed, “Your people’s customs are strange to me.”

\--

**Three Weeks Ago**

“So showing me your balcony was an euphemism,” Elizabeth remarked, keeping her head inclined away so Dr. Heightmeyer couldn’t see her grinning like a fool. Leaning against the doors and staring out into the darkness of the ocean at night wasn’t precisely comfortable, but the drinks helped and she was too close to Dr. Heightmeyer to be cold. The distance between her hand and the other woman’s sprawled knees took up nearly all of the attention she could spare from trying to look less than completely shitfaced.

“Well, I didn’t want to bring my etchings as my one personal item,” Kate laughed, dirty and loud in the stillness over the ocean. She was an elegant mess, with her hair tumbled down from a topknot and her uniform top unzipped to show a plain white shirt underneath. It was like meeting a new person, or walking in front of a concave mirror unexpectedly.

Elizabeth’s mouth was dry with wanting to see how she would taste with Elizabeth’s teeth in her, all pink and white and if she could make Dr. Heightmeyer… _Kate_ laugh with her hands instead of words. She sipped at the dregs of the drink still in her hand but not too much, because she didn’t want this wonderful, heady feeling to ever go away. They had won, Atlantis still stood, hidden away and most of her people were alive and God, just for tonight she was going to take it as a win.

Giggling, she got up, swaying and using the railing to help herself up. She stepped back inside and put down the glass in an out-of-the-way place. With the switches she lowered the light hurting her drink-blurred eyes clumsily, turning it off entirely first.

“Dr. Weir?” The tone was cautious.

“Kate,” she said, her voice too loud suddenly in the dark room. Then she turned around, stepped forward deliberately and took Kate’s face in her own and let their lips touch, gently, she breathed out against Kate's cheek almost to herself, "Why shouldn't I have this? I'm so tired of being the fearless leader and never wanting anything. Why shouldn't I have one night?" She dragged her lips across the flush on Kate's cheek, and whispered, "Kiss me, Kate."

When Kate’s arms came around her to rest on her ass, she let go of thought altogether.

\--

**Present Day**

The long walk after breakfast the next day had mostly been spent in silence. Teyla had long ago trained Elizabeth out of her need to be the engaging host, drawing out her guest. Mostly by using the same tricks on her. Diplomatic training was apparently the same across galaxies.

So when Teyla spoke up, Elizabeth was startled.

“We have mostly left the old customs behind. Most of them were to keep the Wraith away, or grow better food or hunt better. We learnt how to do that without the,” Teyla paused here to search for a term, and settled on, “the more divisive customs. But not all of them have been turned away.”

She was quiet again after that and Elizabeth didn’t push. She would tell all in her own time. It was never any use to push Teyla, she was stubborn enough to just shut down and politely cut off the conversation. And sometimes impolitely. Hours and hours of walking later (or possibly only one hour that felt like an eternity to her raw, unpractised feet) they stopped for a break and Teyla continued her story.

“The leader of our people is not a position to be taken lightly, and it has always been the case that whoever courted the leader must prove themselves. The leader cannot court anyone of course,” Teyla glanced sideways at her, and she said rather than asked, “Abuse of power.”

Teyla nodded and went on, “So it is the case that the courter must prove themselves to all the people. The leader may not marry as they choose.”

She sounded sad, “With my father, it was mostly a token to show that he valued my mother and that he took the thought of marriage seriously. And I hear that was so even when my grandmother courted my grandfather. But if the courter is not of so high a standing amongst our people, the challenge to prove themselves might be dangerous.”

Several years of people-management, not to mention high school, told Elizabeth that this whole story was not actually a hypothetical. “I’m sorry,” she said, sincerely. Teyla, of all people, deserved to be happy.

Teyla did not blush but she smiled a little wistfully down at the grass she was pulling at gently. “He is a good man. His parents,” she shook her hair back impatiently. She wasn’t quite calm but she seemed resigned. “Well, he is not his parents. But my people feel that he must carry their wrongs. That is not how we have done things, ever, to make the child pay for the parents’ sins. But now they will make him do so, and call it custom.”

Carson had banned her from opening her mouth in his infirmary until his patients were ready to be discharged, telling her firmly that her bedside manner needed work, or to be burned in a fire more like. So she reached out and brought Teyla’s forehead down to her own, and stayed there until Teyla pulled back, avoiding her eyes but walking close enough that their hips knocked against each other sometimes.

Then Ronon showed up, making Elizabeth stifle a yelp and Teyla whip out a stick that he dodged with ease. He dropped a bag, said, “Not dead. Cool.” Then he stepped backwards into and disappeared into the shadows in a way that looked amazingly cool and must have been practiced.

“It would be wise of Ronon to spend less time practicing slang and tricks,” Teyla said, icily.

“Jealous?” Elizabeth asked, opening the bag to check for the mint-like branches they used as breath fresheners.

“Yes,” Teyla said bitterly, “did they send any Jell-o?” Elizabeth handed her the blue one, figuring she deserved it.

She would punish John for his high-handed interference later, but hopefully Ronon would make another drop off before that. She had an idea in mind to get the botanists on board to make genetically modified sturdier versions of the _burra_ but she would need one of them to sneak in here. 

\---

**A Week Ago**

Most mornings went to shit before her second cup of could-be-coffee-if-you-squint-and-wish-real-hard. She budgeted for that. She didn’t budget for reaching her office and finding Teyla and John on opposite sides of Ronon, who was flexing his fingers threateningly when they looked like they might be drifting out of their zones, and Rodney running his mouth unhelpfully… scratch that, she always budgeted for Rodney running his mouth unhelpfully. 

John said something which got lost in the sounds of Rodney shouting and of Teyla pacing in a small circle in the zone Ronon had allotted her, and Teyla shot him a furious look. John tried to slap a hand over Rodney’s mouth and got bitten, from the disgusted look on his face. Sadly, this wasn’t the first time she had seen that play out.

“Gentlemen, my job description does not actually say, ‘school teacher.’” Elizabeth smiled brightly.

“But,” Rodney began, punctuated by John raising an eyebrow. Ronon raised an eyebrow at Rodney, which seemed to indicate something to all of them as he settled down to an impatient foot-tapping, but was incomprehensible to her.

“This is important,” Teyla bit out.

“Yes! That is exactly what I was going to say,” Rodney pointed triumphantly at her, “My work is important, vital to this expedition and two galaxies and frankly I don’t see…” Twin incredulous glares from John and Teyla shut him up and this was getting out of hand.

She rapped sharply on the desk and got all their attention for a brief moment. She gestured at Ronon, who looked surprised.

“If you could?” she asked, and furtively rubbed at her knuckles behind her back where they couldn’t see.

“The _burra_ are in season, happens only once in ten years. Teyla wants to go. Sheppard wants to go with her.” She let him see her confusion and he said, “It isn’t allowed. Only a leader of their people can go.” She heard, ‘president,’ but translated it as ‘leader,’ the Ancient translations could be funny about context at times.

“And I was,” John drawled, almost vibrating with how casual he was trying to look, “the military leader of this expedition, the last time I checked.”

“It isn’t the same, Major!” Teyla said sharply, “And we will be banned if we break the rules. No one will trade with us!”

“You can’t go alone, this is what teams are for. It isn’t safe.” John said, slouching _even more_ as Elizabeth watched with a fascinated eye.

“John’s right.” She raised a finger at the immediate commotion, “And last time I checked, _I_ was the leader of this expedition.” John’s smug smile was checked into gaping disbelief.

“I’m going with Teyla. She won’t be alone.”

“You don’t have the experience,” Ronon said bluntly but he was looking at Teyla rather than her. Teyla looked thoughtful.

"Then you'll _both_ die, and I'm going to get court-martialed even more than I already am!" John said but got more pissed off when Rodney flapped one hand and agreed with him.

“I’ve seen civilians trying to do a soldier’s work.” Ronon shrugged then said, “Mess. Usually.” He seemed only philosophically interested now that the decision about whether the team was going or not was made.

“You can’t do this,” John said.

“Yes, I can,” she smiled brightly at him. Because she was leader of this expedition and she _said so_.

She didn’t even need votes on this, like being Homecoming Queen had taken. Or the knockdown, hairpulling fight with the captain of the soccer team.

John narrowed his eyes at her and leaned so casual and slouchy against her wall that he seemed to have no spine at all. He looked prepared to have a knockdown fight over it.

She narrowed her eyes, took a deep breath and lied, “Your hair’s lying flat.”

John looked at her with wounded eyes, and tilted his chin up bravely. “And I think it’s a little singed on this side,” she added, smiling blandly when John surreptitiously tried to check with his fingers.

Teyla said, disapprovingly, “Your people’s customs are strange to me.”

**\---**

**Present Day**

“It’s been so safe,” Elizabeth said. They were almost there, and none of the disasters she had been braced for from a year’s worth of mission reports had struck yet.

Teyla gave her a sideways smile, “It’s a precious commodity, Elizabeth. It is monitored carefully.” Nearly sighing, she added, “A few years ago my people would also have been called on to protect the trees.” Kindly, or diplomatically, she did not add ‘before the Wraith came down on us,’ or ‘before we lost our home and all our possessions.’

“I don’t understand why only the leader can come,” Elizabeth said. With the need for haste, she had had to work doubletime to clear up her schedule for this journey. She had only the barest bones of the story.

The trees were rare, and could only flower once in ten years. They made long-lasting flour from the leaves, and the fruit could be dried and kept for over a year. The flowers which didn’t bear fruit would be plucked to make sturdy cement-like glue. Given the very specific conditions under which the trees would bear fruit, surely it made sense for them to try and spread the tree as far as possible.

“Another outdated custom,” Teyla said, “to prove that your people are strong, and capable of defending themselves. If the leader is weak, then how can the people be strong? There used to be protectorates. For those people who could not defend themselves, there were some cities or planets that would accept them, their labour or other tribute in return for protecting them.”

“Physical strength isn’t everything,” Elizabeth says sharply, and then grimaces apologetically at Teyla’s wry glance.

“No,” Teyla agrees, after a pause.

\--

“Why are you here?” Elizabeth asked, astonished, then winced as Teyla elbowed her.

“You asked for me,” Kate said, sounding almost hurt, fishing a piece of paper out of her pocket.

Elizabeth stared in despair at her own handwriting. “Katie,” she croaked out, “I wanted Katie Brown.”

“Did you?” Kate asked, very very politely.

“We needed to deal with plants, Dr. Heightmeyer,” Elizabeth said, mustering her dignity to salvage what she could of the situation, “As head of the department of botany, Dr. Brown was the obvious choice. It is now of no moment anyway, considering our new… uh circumstances.”

Kate smiled blandly at her, and then went and sat down at the farthest corner of the tent.

\--

“You incited a revolt?” Kate asked, as politely and _professionally_ as she had said everything else

“I… it wasn’t quite like that,” Elizabeth said

Elizabeth said, “I didn’t mean to.”

“And anyway, it was mostly Teyla’s fault,” Elizabeth said withering under the force of Kate’s polite disbelief.

That actually seemed to surprise Kate out of her bland mask. She turned to look at Teyla.

“It is true,” Teyla admitted, “These are outdated and harmful customs, and I felt that I should make a stand against them.” She carried on eating the last of the Jell-o.

Kate seemed a little at a loss. Finally she asked, “Are they really going to execute you?”

Teyla thought about that for longer than Elizabeth was comfortable with. “No. Probably not. But they will sanction us.”

“Luckily we got the _burra_ back to Atlantis,” Elizabeth said, with a twinge of guilt. She was a renowned diplomat, and for good reason, but she had messed this up from beginning to end. “It took us over ten hours to fill up the bags.”

Kate looked surprised. “The fruit? No, we didn’t receive anything.”

Teyla and Elizabeth stared at her, then they turned to stare at each other, “They stole the fruit.” Teyla said flatly.

“I’m starting to feel like the straight man in an Abbott and Costello show,” Elizabeth confessed.

“The people who wanted to trade with you, who you caused a revolt for and got locked up in jail for, stole the fruit?” Kate had lost her professional tone now, she sounded like she couldn’t quite believe what she was saying.

Elizabeth said, “I think that should be whom,” and rode the petty satisfaction all the way to stealing Teyla’s remaining Jell-o. What the hell, it wasn’t the worst last supper she could think of.

\--

“We did not realize you had a bond,” the old man who led the Council told Elizabeth approvingly. “So many of these young people think that they can disregard the old customs. As if leaders can lead alone! We may not execute you after all." 

“What.” Elizabeth said

“What?” Kate asked, much more loudly

He added, "Of course, if she is not your life-mate then we will have to execute all three of you immediately for bringing an intruder.”

“We are very grateful for your consideration, and we cannot express the extent of our respect for the customs,” Teyla said, bowing low and poking Elizabeth. After a moment, Elizabeth realized she wasn’t twitching in suppressed rage but indicating that Elizabeth and Kate should hold hands.

Well, at least they weren’t going to die.

\--

“How did you meet Leader Weir?” the woman next to them turned eagerly.

“Um.” Kate said

“Ours was a beautiful love,” Elizabeth said. “We skipped in a field of daisies, holding hands.”

The woman stared, while everyone else murmured, then her partner said, “That is how you court?”

“Um,” Kate said, more urgently.

“It is how we prove that we would like a long-lasting bond, not something short and meaningless,” Elizabeth said and kept on her polite smile through the wince as Kate pinched her thigh.

“Your people’s customs are strange to us,” the first woman said, after a polite pause.

“That is what I keep saying,” Teyla muttered from Elizabeth’s other side and downed a third glass of the most potent liquor Elizabeth had ever smelt.

\--

“We’re free? We’re free!” Elizabeth said, and brought her hands together in front of her to stop her from the almost overpowering feeling of wanting to kiss Kate breathless.

“How did you manage this?” Teyla smiled, sudden and bright like she hadn’t in days, not since they had been asked to trade the fruits to that small, desperate band and had suddenly decided that she was willing to risk it, that she needed to right this wrong.

“I just talked to them. They seemed worried about causing a war anyway. They were just worried that our lack of respect for the old values might cause more problems than we could deal with.”

Not without reason, Elizabeth thought privately.

“Thank you,” Teyla said, nodding with respect at Kate.

“I’m a certified therapist, you know.” Kate said wryly, “They gave me a certificate, even if I don’t have it here. I know how to listen.”

“And not jump into conclusions?” Elizabeth asked. Kate winced. She was about to say something, very likely pointing out that Elizabeth was at least nominally an adult and not a twelve year old rejected by her first crush, when Elizabeth got an idea.

 

\--

“How did you let them convince us to trade the _burra_?” Teyla demanded. “I have tried many times to trade from other planets!”

Elizabeth beamed. This was what had made her the best diplomat in three continents. Or two galaxies now. Now that she could afford to be smug, she wanted to indulge.

"I may have mentioned that with the fruits we already have we could make sturdier versions with shorter flowering periods." She shrugged apologetically, but the carrot and stick method had always worked on Earth as well and it had turned out to work remarkably well here.

"But we don't have any of the fruits," Teyla said

"And it wouldn't have been enough anyway," Elizabeth shrugged, they were just lucky that the bluff had worked. Teyla shook her head but there was a sly grin on her face. She was a trader, she knew to take risks sometimes. If the rewards were worth it.

And I listened,” she smiled at Kate, apologetic suddenly for the way she had been behaving. It wasn't Kate's fault that she was gorgeous and smart and her laugh sounded like something out of Elizabeth's fondest wet dreams.

“You talked about protectorates,” she reminded Teyla, “I convinced them that we should build on that custom and not let it be forgotten. “It isn’t easy for anyone to just give up their ways of thinking. So I just persuaded them that our way was their way.”

Teyla looked thoughtful suddenly.

Kate looked at her in a very strange way. “Dr. Weir,” she began, then, "Elizabeth..." and Teyla looked up and hastily retreated out of the tent.

“Kate?” she asked, uncertain. It had taken this long for her to convince herself that if Kate didn’t want her, if she wanted to be colleagues instead of friends, there was nothing she could do about it. Now…

Kate touched her cheek and she could feel herself blush. Slowly, she drifted forward until Kate’s arms came up to surround her.

\--

**Two Weeks, Four Days Ago**

Elizabeth practiced to her reflection in the fake bathtub, “I think we left things a little unsettled.”

“I feel that we were too hasty in, in our conclusions,” her voice trailed off

“I feel that maybe…”

“I feel I want,”

“I want…”

Her eyes were large and round in a surprised ‘O’ and her cheeks seemed to be paler than usual in the reflection.

\--

**Present Day**

_I think we should talk_ , was nearly the most ominous email she had ever received. Her grad school supervisor was still definitely the worst, but since that had been a fresh level of hell she usually lopped it off the curve.

She needed a drink. Or Teyla. Or Teyla and a drink. It wasn’t TGI not-Friday time yet, but after the last week, or month (or hell, year) she deserved a drink and so did Teyla.

“You seriously slept with her? Because I thought that was just Chuck trying to see how gullible the botanists were. I think there was a chart.”

She whirled around to see Rodney reading her mail over her shoulder.

Rodney said, “Wow, you’re just a sexual harassment case waiting to happen, aren’t you?”

“Thank you for your input, Dr. McKay!” Elizabeth said through gritted teeth.

“No, no, always happy to…” Rodney waved a dismissive hand until he caught sight of Elizabeth’s expression and then hastily excused himself, almost tripping over Elizabeth’s bag in his haste to leave the office. “Just wanted to tell you the power problem with the water filtration is solved!” he yelled as he ran down.

She set off briskly towards the gym and hopefully some oblivion, fast. She slowed down a little as she approached, because the area should have been crowded but instead it was deserted. Had there been a problem that Rodney hadn’t mentioned?  She frowned and lifted a finger to call Chuck.

“Anything the matter in the gym in Hall A1?”

“No, ma’am. Everything seems to be uh…” suddenly the voice sharpened and said, “Uh, why do you ask Ma’am?”

“I’m here and the corridor was empty. Sorry for the trouble,” Elizabeth says and briskly shuts it off. A panicked, “Ma’am, you might not…” got cut off and she debated whether to tune back in, but honestly, she wasn’t a child, she could turn a blind eye to whatever contraband fun the Marines were having. She opened the door.

Elizabeth stared. Opened her mouth. Shut it.

Teyla scrambled up off the floor, and spoke fast, “I.. I lost track of time, Elizabeth, my apologies. I was just teaching Kanaan, uh…”

“Grappling,” Kanaan offered, and lit up when Teyla offered him a grateful smile.

‘Grappling,’ Elizabeth mouthed as Teyla tried hastily to cover up her marked neck with whatever was to hand, which was unfortunately Kanaan’s shirt. Kanaan stood awfully close to her to cover up whatever parts of him should have been covered by his shirt. And his pants for that matter.

“For the winter festival, yes.” Kanaan said

“Your people’s customs are strange to me,” Elizabeth said, self-righteously and turned around to walk back to her room.

In her room, she paced in a nervous habit she thought she had left behind in college. She could do it, she could be an adult and just accept that Kate didn’t want… didn’t want her. She would be dignified and calm and rational.

There was a chime on her bell. Elizabeth took a deep breath and smoothed her hands out on her uniform and put on her best game face. “Come in!”

Kate entered. How had she found her so soon? Elizabeth’s game face shook.

“Kate,” she began, or no, “Dr. Heightmeyer.”

But Kate held a hand up, “No, we are not talking. I talk too much, and then you talk too much, and we keep… we keep messing it up. So no talking. And no analysing.” She looked nervous, and determined, but not like she wanted to be just colleagues, so Elizabeth smiled, a little hesitantly.

“You’re the one who sent me a ‘we should talk,’ message,” she argued, her smile growing.

Kate ignored her, and took a deep breath, looking more nervous than when all stood between them and death by execution was a lie and their acting skills. "I want you, not for a short term thing, not because the Wraith might attack at any moment or because we might never see Earth again. Do you want me too?" Kate asked as if she thought there was a chance in hell that Elizabeth was going to refuse.

Elizabeth kept grinning and said, "That was an awful lot of words for 'not talking,' Dr Heightmeyer."

“Oh, be quiet.” Kate said, and kissed her.

 

 

 

 


End file.
